Milwaukee Television History: The Analog Years

Milwaukee Television History: The Analog Years

Milwaukee -not New York, Chicago or Los Angeles- was the scene of a number of television firsts: Here the very first application for a commercial TV license was filed with the FCC in 1938. The first female program director and news director in a majormarket were both at Milwaukee stations. Milwaukee was a major battleground in the VHF vs. UHF war that began in the 1950s. The struggle to put an educational TV station on the air was fought at the national, state and local levels by the Milwaukee Vocational School. WMVS-TV was the first educational TV station to run a regular schedule of colorcasts, and WMVT was the site of the first long-distance test of a digital over-the-air signal.This detailed story of the rich history of the citystelevision stations since 1930 is told through facts, anecdotes, and quotations from the on-air talent, engineers,and managers who conceived, constructed, and put the stations on the air. Included are discussions of the many locally-produced shows often done live that once made up a large part of a station s broadcast day. Through these stories, some told here for the first time, and the books extensive photographic collection of over 470 images, the history of Milwaukee television comes alive again for the reader.